Thursday, January 03, 2008

Iowans love the caucus

Tonight is the climax of this thing up in Iowa. You may have heard of it. It's been in the news.

It's the presidential primary caucus. It's a pretty big deal. It's the biggest caucus in the country, way bigger than the Wyoming caucus (Iowans laugh derisively when you compare their huge caucus to the tiny, impotent Wyoming caucus).

Yes, Iowan's are quite proud of their huge caucus. It's a time when they get to make the rest of the country get on our collective knees and spray their choice for candidate right in our face.

But whatever final candidates come out of the huge Iowa caucus, it's important to remember that the real winner is the Iowa economy.

That's $40 million injected into the Iowa economy. That kind of green will buy you a lot of John Deere's in Des Moines.

And that's only the money spent by the candidates themselves. Add to that untold millions spent by special interest groups and PACs, and you can see why Iowans love the caucus.

They make a lot of money selling their caucus to the highest bidder.

Sure, all that money has a corrupting influence on the American electoral system. Certainly there's no rational reason to undermine democracy by narrowing the field of candidates nearly an entire year before the actual election.

But why let a little thing like idealism get in the way of a lucrative political transaction. The huge Iowa caucus is a tradition, and what could be more traditional than political corruption?